World Sight Day is observed on the second Thursday of October every year and this year we will celebrate the World Sight Day 2022 on 13 October. It is a global event which aims to draw attention on the issue of blindness and vision impairment.
This day is observed to raise awareness among people regarding eye health and to recognize the work done by the thousands of ophthalmologists across the world to fix the problem of vision impairment.
World Sight Day is also known as 'World Eye Day' or 'World Vision Day'. This day is observed globally to bring attention on and encourage everyone to think about the importance of their eye health so that people can take steps to improve their eye health thus preventing loss of sight.
We will be highlighting the theme, history, and significance for World Sight Day 2022.
World Sight Day 2022: Theme
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IABP) has decided to continue the theme of #LoveYourEyes for the World Sight Day 2022. It is to build further on the success of the last year's campaign which witnessed over 3.5 million pledges to prioritize eye health.
The campaign encourages people to take care of their eyes and highlights how billion people across the globe suffer from vision loss and do not have access to eye care services.
This year IAPB is encouraging people to go for sight screenings in national parliaments, assemblies, presidential and royal palaces to highlight eye health among politicians and decision makers.
World Sight Day 2022: History
The establishment of World Sight Day started with the establishment of Lions Clubs International founded by William Perry Woods in 1916 which became an international organization in 1917. The Lions Clubs International has organized various projects across the globe like fundraising for typhoons and cyclone victims, diagnosis and management for people with hearing disorders, community hearing, and cancer screening projects.
'SightFirst' is one of the most popular and successful projects of the Lions Club which started in 1990 and was organized to fight blindness caused due to trachoma and other issues. This campaign focused on raising funds for the treatment of visual impaired patients. This campaign has helped over millions of people worldwide. It was during this campaign when IAPB decided to observe World Sight Day on second Thursday of October.
World Sight Day 2022: Significance
Over 150 IAPB members support the World Sight day which includes the major eye care NGO in the world, apex professional bodies for ophthalmology and optometry, teaching hospitals and corporation. These agencies work towards the elimination of blindness and visual impairment.
It is important to prevent visual impairment or blindness because poor eyesight impacts education, employment, quality of life, poverty and so many other sustainable development goals which are set up by the United Nations. Neglecting visual health can cause massive problems in future as well thus prevention is an ideal step.
Vision impairment affects people of all ages, majority of these patients are over the age of 50. Vision impairment and blindness can have long-lasting effects on all aspects of life.
World Sight Day 2022: Quotes
"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller.
"Blindness is an unfortunate handicap but true vision does not require the eyes."-Helen Keller.
“The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter – often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter – in the eye.” ― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
“The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.“ —St. Jerome
“For she had eyes and chose me.” ― William Shakespeare, Othello
“The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero
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